Sunday, August 31, 2008

victorian transport plan

Last week I attended Transport Forum in Doncaster held by Minister for Roads, Tim Pallas. It was the seventh of eight forums being held around Victoria. The forum was well attended by public transport advocates and many from the local government sector. I was joined by representatives of the Eastern Transport Coalition who loudly stated their case for more public transport in the outer east.

The Minister made mention many times of roads and freight but the forum was far more interested in public transport and discussion came back to this time and time again. The forum argued a strong case for improvements to public transport infrastructure across Melbourne.

There was a call for an Eddington like study across the whole Melbourne region and of concern to me was the Minister’s answer “that’s what we’re doing at the moment”. A well managed, heavily facilitated set of forums is a long way from the in depth study that Sir Rod Eddington undertook.

The Victorian Transport Forum was a good opportunity to demonstrate to Minister Pallas the desperate need for more public transport, in particular rail and buses in the outer east.

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I took the opportunity to highlight to the Minister that while the lack of public transport affected people including the unemployed, students and pensioners, people living in areas of the Yarra Ranges including the Dandenongs and along the Warburton Highway also suffered from poor public transport access. Residents in these locations have no other choice than to travel by car, and are spending a greater proportion of their income on vehicle costs.

The impact of peak oil and climate change will only exacerbate pressures on residents in the outer east struggling to get by on already tight household budgets, and it is imperative their public transport needs are taken into account when developing a transport plan.

The Public Transport message has been delivered again to the State Government and I look forward to seeing public transport being a key focus of the outcomes later this year.

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About Me

It's a great honour and privilege to serve the people of the Lyster Ward. I was voted onto council in 2005 and have been re-elected twice since with a Greens record 58.93% primary vote in 2012. I'm passionate about the community and I enjoy working with them to shape an even better future. This term on council I will be representing the various township groups in Lyster, Belgrave Hub Project Steering Committee Birdsland Advisory Committee, Burrinja, Eastern Regional Libraries Corp, Eastern Transport Coalition, Fire Management Committee, Graffiti Working Group and the Municipal Emergency Management Committee. In 2009 I was elected as Chairperson of the Eastern Transport Coalition and continue to serve in that role. In 2011 I was elected President of the Victorian Local Governance Association after serving two years as Treasurer. In Dec 2013 I stood down as President as I was preselected to run for the Greens in Eastern Metropolitan in the 2014 state election. IMAGES FROM THIS BLOGSITE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED OR REPUBLISHED WITHOUT PERMISSION, if you wish to use an image just ask by emailing samantha.dunn@vic.greens.org.au. ANONYMOUS AND/OR OFFENSIVE COMMENTS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED.